


Warmer

by Blue_Mistfall



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Chase Brody is a sweetheart, Child!CJ, Child!Eric Derekson, Child!RJ, Eric is Dark's adopted son, Jack's egos are merpeople, Merman!Chase, Stuck on ice, as well as other egos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28935702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Mistfall/pseuds/Blue_Mistfall
Summary: Playing on ice could lead to any consequences, including making unusual friendships.
Kudos: 11





	Warmer

"You're too fussy, Henrik. Fresh water is neither better nor worse than sea water... One day I'll totally tell him that," Chase sighed, having let a stream of bubbles out of his mouth. He was already feeling the pricking in the gills under his ears - the usual thing about transition into the river from the sea. Maybe his gills were too sensitive? Despite this, Chase liked coming here, maybe because there were more opportunities to watch humans from the river than from the sea. Of course, now there were not as many, for the season was not fitting, but still... Chase especially liked watching children play on the shores. It always warmed his heart for some reason.  
Now the river banks were almost unseen under the gigantic ice plates piled up on them, and not only there: some were drifting along the current as well. Soon they were going to melt, which meant that the nature's slumber was ending...   
Chase's peaceful thoughts were interfered by a small whimper from somewhere over the water. He splashed with alert (before he had been laying on the water surface, face up), and his look met with that of gigantic brown eyes behind thick round glasses (like those which Henrik liked wearing, although Chase doubted they helped him). They appeared to belong to a human boy of uncertain age: maybe five or six, but tiny. Too tiny. Too thin and small. And it was not only about his body: Chase immediately sensed that there was something wrong. Children almost never carried sadness around for too long. They could dispose of it, unlike adults, and this one... how could sadness be in the core? Even grown-up humans rarely left such impression.  
"D-did you come here to get me?" the child asked, flexing his fingers on the edge of the ice plate (he was in a kneeling position for now, but the white tracks on the right side of his jacket and pants showed that he had been laying on his side - not the wisest choice).  
"What do you mean by that? I didn't even expect to meet someone around here," Chase confessed.  
"I m-must've frozen to death and-and now I see things."  
Chase rubbed the back of his neck. Now this was no good in all aspects.  
"No, you're not. Wanna make sure? There." He reached out to the boy, but his hand stopped before he could touch him, for the child attempted to crawl back. "Don't worry. I give you my word that I won't snatch you or try to harm you in any possible way."  
The child hesitated, but then reached out himself and dared to touch the translucent webbing between Chase's fingers.  
"Be careful, it's delicate," Chase mentioned, knowing how destructive children could be without realizing it (no matter if they had legs or tails), and noted that the child's fingers were too cold and too white. However, he acted surprisingly gently. "How did you get here? The water is too shallow here, you're stuck."  
"I know." The boy fiddled with his fingers. "CJ and RJ pwomised they will come, b-but what if they just left me? I d-don't fink Dark will be glad to have me back."  
"CJ and RJ? Dark? Who are they?"  
"Dark is da man dat got me an' other kids. CJ and RJ are twins. We were playing here and-and my leggies stuck in one of those piles," he pointed at one of the ice block piles on the bank. "They ran to get help and-and then the blocks moved and I was brought here by da water. I c-can't swim."  
"Even if you could, the water is too cold for you," Chase mused. "Hold on, I'll try something."  
He grabbed onto the edge of the ice plate and attempted to push it, but overrated his strength: its uneven bottom stuck to the river ground. Besides, it started crumpling under Chase's fingers, and he understood that further tries could only break it. Even worse, while pushing he saw that another thing was terribly wrong with the child: his legs were not ending in feet. They were stumps. Short and round and eerie.  
"D-did you say something about leggies?.." Chase mumbled, swimming around the ice to face the boy.  
"Yes. I wear metal foot things to walk," he explained. "But they fell off wh-when the ice moved."  
"I hate to ask, but... how did that happen?"  
"Don't remember." The child's head dropped down. "I remember a bus, and-and all my brothers, and my mom and dad in it, and then there was a crash and... I woke up in a hospital and I didn't have my feet anymore. B-but sometimes I feel as if they hurt, even though I don't have dem anymore."  
"So this is why this enigmatic Dark took you," Chase nodded. "Are you sure no one survived?"  
"Was told so. And-and people said that Dark takes the saddest ones."  
"No wonder." Chase was so horrorstruck that he was not paying attention to the discomfort caused to his gills by the river water. "So now you only have to wait."  
"What if no one comes?"  
"I'm sure that someone will. I'll stay here with you to make sure you're okay until then, right?.. Wait. You said that this Dark took more than one child. Weren't there any that made friends with you? There should be at least one."  
The boy frowned.  
"CJ and RJ are always nice to me. Yancy calls me his little bro and shares his secret stash of sweets with me... H-Host says he likes when I listen to stories he reads..."  
"See? I'm certain they are worried about you."  
"But what if they pretend?"  
"Sure they're not. Is Dark's house far away from here?"  
"Pretty far."  
"So, I can't carry you to the riverbank because you'll get too cold, and besides your leggies must've drowned... So, we should wait. Just try to move a little bit so that you don't get too cold, right?"  
"Right... M-my name is Eric Derekson."  
"And I'm Chase Brody."

Slowly but surely Chase managed even to make Eric laugh a little bit by telling him stories from his underwater life. He especially liked the one about the old toy gun Chase once had found. It was surprising what you could find among human garbage.  
"...And Schneep couldn't even scold me for that because Anti was boasting about his addition to the knife collection," he sighed. "Knives are not toy guns, they are dangerous even underwater."  
"It must be cool under there," Eric sighed. "You don't have legs and you're okay wif it."  
"My world allows that," Chase shrugged. "It's odd that my tail is almost weightless in the water, but very heavy out of it... Hey, I've seen humans with artificial tails. They had those things around their legs that made them look like us a bit. Maybe you could use one to learn how to swim?"  
"Sounds fun."  
Chase's ears instinctively twitched: he heard a familiar sound. It was a motorboat, and it was approaching to them.  
"I'm here," he whispered and dove, staying close to the surface to see what was going on. The boat stopped right next to the ice plate, and two childish voices followed:  
"Jim, it's Eric!"  
"He's alive, Jim!"  
"He lost his leggies, Jim!"  
"Shush!" an adult voice followed. "Eric, come here, quickly! You must be freezing!"  
Judging by the sounds and the fact that the boat sat a little deeper in the water, Eric was successfully transported inside. And I haven't even said a proper goodbye to him, Chase thought to himself, but reassured himself that finding him would not be that hard. No, it would not. No sirree. The main problem was convincing Schneep that going to the human world was not as dangerous as considered. If Anti practiced it, why Chase couldn't?

"No, don't sleep, Eric! You need to stay awake!"  
He was right. If Dark didn't want him to be around, why would he arrive? Eric's hand curled around the fold of Dark's jacket (worn over his suit).  
"How did you managed to end up on that ice plate?" the adult asked. "Now you see why playing on ice is prohibited, Jims?"  
"We didn't mean anything wrong," RJ replied.  
"You're lucky this time, for I forgive you." Dark frowned at the twins. "Try to keep him warm while I drive. And no rocking the boat!"  
As soon as Eric was placed at the back seat, CJ and RJ clung to him from both sides, so they were bunched up like kittens. No, I'm not telling them anything, Eric decided to himself. They will tell everyone, and he hated tall tales - and Jims couldn't hold themselves from creating ones out of each and every story they heard or experienced... But this was a rare moment when the twins kept quiet, shielding their new little brother from the possible danger and keeping him warmer, warmer, warmer.


End file.
